Top seed and defending champion Asjad Iqbal of Punjab was defeated by Muhammad Sajjad of Punjab and was eliminated from the NBP 49th National Snooker Championship, while Naseem Akhtar, world champion Muhammad Asif, Shahid Aftab, Sohail Shahzad, Ean Mark John, Abdul Sattar and Owais Munir also won their matches in the pre-quarterfinals and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Naseem Akhtar played breaks of 118, Asjad Iqbal 114, Shahid Aftab 109 and Sohail Shahzad also played breaks of 109. The pre-quarterfinals of the grand event were played on Wednesday at the Snooker Arena of the National Bank Sports Complex.
Muhammad Sajjad of Punjab defeated defending champion and top seed of the event Asjad Iqbal of Punjab by 5-3 after an exciting match to ensure his entry into the quarterfinals. The frame scores of his victory were 61-25, 65-39, 25-62, 5-114, 25-69, 67-26, 78-11 and 69-29 in his favor.
In other pre-quarterfinals, Naseem Akhtar of Punjab defeated Zulfiqar A. Qadir of Sindh by 5-4, Owais Munir of Punjab defeated Sharjeel Mahmood of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by 5-1, Abdul Sattar of Sindh defeated Adil A. Jabbar of Balochistan by 5-4, Shahid Aftab of Punjab defeated Wasim Abbas of Punjab by 5-2, Sohail Shahzad of Sindh defeated Muhammad Shahbaz of Punjab by 5-2.
Sindh's Ean Mark John defeated Punjab's Babar Masih by 5-4 and Punjab's Muhammad Asif defeated Punjab's Mubashir Raza by 5-4 in an exciting and thrilling match to make it to the quarterfinals. All four quarterfinals will be played today.
In the first quarterfinal, Punjab's Owais Munir will face Sindh's Abdul Sattar, in the second quarterfinal, Punjab's Muhammad Sajjad face Punjab's Naseem Akhtar, in the third quarterfinal, Punjab's Shahid Aftab takes Sohail Shahzad and in the fourth quarterfinal, Punjab's Muhammad Asif will takes Sindh's Ean Mark John.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ